Deploying GLAD Drifters

Researchers launch one-meter-tall plastic drifters into the Gulf of Mexico in 2012. Over 300 of these drifters were released and their location information was sent to researchers every five minutes through GPS satellite. This project from the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment, or CARTHE, called the Grand LAgrangian Deployment (GLAD) received 5.7 million data points from the drifters. These data can help scientists understand where oil might be transported in the case of another oil spill. Read more about the drifters in an article about CARTHE.